Description

Once upon a time, Dr. Brown managed to defeat a mad android known as Golden Silver, who tried to suck out the energy of the planet G-9. Dr. Brown extracted four Mystical Gems, the android's power source, and sealed them on one of the planet's moons, where it was guarded by the four Gunstar siblings. However, years later, a dictator named Smash Daisaku kidnapped Gunstar Green and brainwashed him into telling him where the Mystical Gems were. The dictator is now close to reactivating Golden Silver. The Gunstar twins Red and Blue, guided by their sister Yellow, must find a way to stop Smash Daisaku - but they know that their older brother is on that way...

Gunstar Heroes is a fast-paced side-scrolling shooter. Controlling either Red or Blue Gunstar, the player has access to four basic weapons: Force, rapid shot; Lightning, a straight shot that penetrates enemies; Chaser, a homing weapon; and Flame, a powerful close-ranged. The player can combine two weapons to produce a new one, for a total of fourteen weapons. It is also possible to use melee attacks and moves such as grabbing and tossing enemies, jumping, and sliding.

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Extras

The U.S. version of the game came with one free Fruit Roll-Up.

References

Most bosses of the game are in fact "borrowed" for famous movies, anime or video games. For instance, Colonel Red is Vega from Street Fighter II (aka "Bison" in US version), Pink and her two hunchmen are the Gladys gang from the anime Fushigi no Umi no Nadia (The secret of blue water), the Emperor is a clone of Darth Vader, and you'll also meet a copy of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z...

About Pink, you'll also notice that the jewel she tries to steal is similar to the "blue water" jewel from Nadia.